DFACS, House of Prayer at another impasse over children

Posted: Saturday, June 02, 2001

By Associated Press

ATLANTA -- House of Prayer pastor Arthur Allen Jr. told Georgia state Rep. Tyrone Brooks on Friday that the state Department of Family and Children Services had ''gone back on its word'' regarding the return of the children of church members.

Brooks, D-Atlanta, and state Rep. Bill McKinney, D-Atlanta, met with Allen on Friday regarding a ''safety plan'' that would have outside monitors chosen by civil rights leaders and black state legislators who have assisted the congregation.

Church leaders have a court appearance Tuesday with Chief Judge Sanford Jones of Fulton County Juvenile Court regarding the release of the remaining 14 children.

''I reminded Rev. Allen about our court appearance Tuesday, and he said they'd all be in court Tuesday, but in the meantime, they were leaving things in the hands of the Lord,'' Brooks said.

The state has seized 49 children of church members. It released 35 of them last week after determining they had not been abused -- but Ted Hall, lawyer for DFACS, suggested that might have been a mistake.

''Everyone's a little nervous'' that those children are back with their families, Hall said Thursday.

He said those parents should have been forced to accept punishment restrictions as a condition for the children's release.

Church members insist their use of corporal punishment does not constitute abuse. Of the 49 children, no more than five suffered physical harm, according to published reports.

Brooks, who has been negotiating for the children's release, blamed DFACS for the impasse.

''If DFACS wants to put a major stumbling block in the way to prevent a resolution to this crisis, this is what they're going to do,'' Brooks said. ''It should not come to that. It does not have to come to that. It seems like somebody at DFACS doesn't want this to end.''

This article published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Saturday, June 2, 2001.